Halide Camera App Maximizes the iPhone 16's Advanced Camera Controls
Popular iPhone camera app Halide Mark II, which just two weeks ago was updated with the release of iOS 18 to add direct access to Halide on the iPhone’s lock screen, has been updated again with native support for the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 family of devices, including the powerful iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. Halide Mark II version 2.17.0 enables iPhone photographers to adjust exposure and focus using the new touch-sensitive Camera Control button, which combines sliding functionality with a button press.
When using the Camera Control button in Halide to control exposure, users can adjust exposure compensation in 0.1 EV increments from minus-six to plus-six EV. The built-in iPhone camera app only supports +/- two EV adjustments to exposure. For focusing, the scale is 0.0 to 1.0 with 0.1 focus scale adjustments, although the touchscreen enables more precise 0.02 focus tweaks. There is also a third option — locked — which means the Camera Control button acts as a shutter only, and accidental swipes won’t adjust camera settings.
Halide’s developers, Lux Camera, have also done something interesting with the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max devices. These phones include a new, faster version of Apple’s 48-megapixel Fusion camera image sensor, which delivers reduced shutter lag. When using Halide, an image is captured when the Camera Control button is pressed, rather than when it is released — which is the normal behavior on the iPhone.
“The quick snapping function works great with iPhone 16 Pro’s new 48MP ProRAW Zero Shutter Lag feature but also with our Process Zero — a natural way to get 12MP images with minimal processing and no AI,” Lux explains.
Alongside Halide 2.17, Lux’s Sebastiaan de With also published his iPhone 16 Pro Camera Review on Lux Camera’s website today. The review is an extremely deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro as a photographic tool and offers a lot of insight into the smartphone’s imaging capabilities from the perspective of a camera app developer and longtime photographer. In his review, de With writes, “The iPhone 16 Pro is a tremendous camera because between Camera Control, Zero Shutter Lag and its advanced Photographic Styles, it will capture more moments than any iPhone ever did by a huge margin — and that in itself makes me recommend it over any previous one.”
Halide 2.17 is available now as a free update to the Halide Mark II app. Halide Mark II is free to try for seven days but requires an in-app purchase beyond that, with monthly, annual, and lifetime licenses available, starting at $2.99.